Stain Tricks

I'll bet you'll never guess what I was doing last Friday night. Let me assure you, it was not fun! My youngest, most adventurous child kept up tradition by not letting us be bored on a Friday night. She was playing with her baby doll one minute and the next minute, all I could hear was screaming mixed with crying. I thought she had severed a limb! All I could make out was, "It broke!" as Todd and I both ran down the hall to see what was wrong.



There was something wrong all right, she had not severed a limb, but I'm guessing she wished she had. As I rounded the corner, my eyes were greeted with a shattered bottle of mineral oil on my carpet. We're not talking a small bottle of mineral oil, we're talking the biggest bottle you can buy sized bottle.


Now, let me explain to you, this bottle was not in an easy to reach position in the closet. It was on the very top shelf and she had to use some acrobatic skills to even reach the top shelf, which prompted my question, "What were you doing?!?"


"I was trying to find an old pacifier for my baby," she cried.


"Brennaaaaa!" her daddy fumed.


"I'm sorry, I know you just had the carpet cleaned!" She spoke between the rushed breaths she was taking through her river of tears. She was right, we did just have the carpets cleaned a few weeks ago, which was one of my first thoughts. RRRRRR!


Immediately we went to work trying to get this stain up. We tried several things on Friday night, only to work in vain and be greeted by the same sight on Saturday morning. I googled what to do about it, and Todd got on the phone calling the "professionals" for advice, which was no help. I called my Mom, she raised 4 kids who made lots of messes, so I figured if anyone knew the trick, she would.


I finally resigned myself to the fact that if this was going to come out, it was going to be a process. And a process it has been. We have worked and worked, but as far as I can tell at this point, we have conquered yet one more household mess, that is - until more of this lovely oil wicks up from the padding, and then we'll go to work again.


Although this was a process and took lots of work and effort on our part to fix, there is something in this life that is not a process, and I want to remind you of it today, from Hebrews 9:


24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.


For ALL TIME. Your sins for ALL TIME. Although your becoming like Jesus is a process, your redemption is not. It is finished. He died once for ALL TIME to take your sins away. Unlike my stain that will rear its ugly head and have to be removed again and again, you, my sister, are completely clean and without blemish in His eyes. We don't need any stain tricks to keep you clean. 


I don't know about you, but just as the last words of this verse say, I am eagerly waiting for Him!


And by the way, if you ever find yourself in a mineral oil predicament, let me just tell ya - try Dawn! It works!


I love you all, have a splendid weekend.





Royal Princess Daughter Of The King